Ailments
by Cuna999
Summary: He had the simple charm of being a friend/She did not waver/She burnt her enemies with ice/His anger spurred him further/The poison kept him alive/He held his distress until it was time/He overcame his fear/The shock gave her clarity./SEEs-ccentric
1. Charm: Junpei

Ailments 

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**Charm**

"_An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit."  
>-Pliny the Elder<em>

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><p>Marin Karin and Sexy Dance.<p>

He can't help if he's weak to those—he _is_ a guy after all. No one else seems to understand that. Akihiko-senpai surely doesn't; man, he's never seen such an awkward pickup line like _that_ before. Only Akihiko-senpai can spout such lines that make Junpei smack his forehead and want to give up on babe hunting. And Shinjiro-senpai…uh, let's not even try and go there. And Minato just naturally attracts chicks, even when he doesn't want to. Lucky bastard.

But back to the point. In Tartarus, he can't help if he's weak to charm attacks. Plus sometimes the shadows aren't half-bad looking. Of course they look nothing like humans, but something about the color and posture they hold…

Junpei shakes his head, following after their leader. It doesn't last long, because usually someone can cast Charmdi and his super weird infatuation with those monstrous things disappear. God, the things that he thinks sometimes, under charm…

Minato tilts his head to signal them, runs forward, and stabs the blade of his shortsword into the black body of a shadow, and the battle initiates.

Junpei curses under his breath when he sees the regal mother; Minato starts off with a simple swipe of his sword, giving the shadow a good amount of damage. Silently praying that he can attack or someone else finishes it off before he goes; he curses again when the regal mother casts Sexy Dance.

He feels his mind go fuzzy.

_Charm, charm, charm._

_Yeah, since he never had any of that around him when he was little, things with charm always attracted him. His dad was always an alcoholic, his mother left them…what kind of 'charm' did a family like his have—and him, a product of that lack of charm?_

_He tried, he did. In school, people just think he's stupid when he tries to be funny. He's not smart, he's not athletic, and he cares about that stuff. He wants to be someone, he wants to have that charm and charisma that make people like him. _

_He can't do anything. Junpei Iori is a loser; he has nothing._

_And that is why he is so jealously attracted to things that do. Shadows have beauty, strength, power, cunning—he doesn't have any of those. Even his leader, Arisato, the new guy—he was automatically popular. He has natural charm and charisma, although he looks like he doesn't want it. _

_Goddammit he has nothing to be fighting for. Why couldn't he be something more…just something __**more**__?_

The haze wears off and dazedly, he rushes forward to land a critical, finishing blow. He looks around him and sees Yuka-tan trying to heal the others. Minato is slouching; he's injured, and so is Akihiko-senpai. He has literally just saved them all.

"Nice one, Iori," Akihiko huffs, wincing at the shadow-wound. "Nice timing."

"Io! Diarama!" Yuka-tan yells, and Minato stands up, brushing himself off. She hurries over to Akihiko-senpai to do the same. "Not bad, Junpei," she smiles, rushing past him.

Junpei blinks, surprised. He feels two light pats on his shoulder and it is Minato, congratulating him in his silent way.

When the team is healed up they prod further into Tartarus, and Junpei trails behind the skinny-ass back of Minato.

He doesn't realize it, but he does have charm. There's a reason why the others can work together with him, there's a reason why Yukari and Minato put up with his stupid jokes, and there's a reason why Minato chooses him to come along into Tartarus. There's a reason why when he's being an ass, Minato waits for him to cool down and accept him back.

Junpei Iori isn't anything special.

But he has the simple charm of being a friend.

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**Ending Notes: **I'd like Junpei for a friend. He seems pretty cool, when he's not being an ass, but still, you can see where he's coming from. Inadequacy is a terrible feeling. :S He's the plainest guy in the game I suppose, but he's a natural friend—he's not easily thrown off if you're awkward, he's friendly, and he's pretty funny. I like that about him, he's a good guy. :3

This fanfic will be featuring all the SEES members, except Minato and Fuuka, since Minato is well rounded in personality traits and Fuuka never actually goes into battle so she's never afflicted with ailments. Guess who gets matched up to which ailment? :P

Also, they all still have their initial Personas; Hermes, Io, Polydeuces, Penthesilea, etc.

Next chapter should be coming soon; I have them all written out, ready for editing and uploading~


	2. Fear: Yukari

Ailments

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**Fear**

"_Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain."  
>-Mark Twain<em>

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><p>She inhales and exhales in rapid motions, her heart screaming against the cage of her chest. She can feel it beating, fast, fast, faster, and she briefly wonders if it might burst.<p>

The metal is still cold against her forehead, and her skin has gone clammy and pale with sweat.

_Just do it, just pull the trigger; just pull the trigger and—!_

She closes her eyes, no—she squeezes them shut and slams her finger against the trigger in a burst of courage.

…

Nothing happens.

Because she didn't put any pressure on the trigger. Her eyes glaze; she merely lets the gun drop from her hands and lets her head fall against her knees in a pathetic motion of defeat.

Yukari Takeba is a social butterfly, she is beautiful, she is popular, she is confident and tough and—

She's weak.

She knows that Io is inside of her, waiting to fight, waiting to be summoned.

But she can't do it.

She overcomes this fear quickly, when she learns that there is no time to be moping around; under Minato's guidance she learns to fight. Junpei joins too; they're both the basic newbies, since Minato was special. She is comforted by this fact that she's not alone when it comes to the hesitation of summoning your Persona. But Junpei is still much more fearless than she is; he learns much quicker than she does.

She hates it, detests it when the shadows manage to cast evil touch or smile. Everything that she'd manage to overcome just comes flooding back to her and it won't go away until someone uses Patra or Me Patra…

_Pull the trigger, pull the trigger, that shadow in front of you is nothing compared to before—_

_But the eyes and the flesh and the darkness meld together and her legs shake, the evoker shakes in her hand, bringing it up to her head is scaring her…it's cold against her skin, cold, cold, cold, and that shadow is more frightening than she could imagine…her legs won't stop shaking, and her body is trembling…_

_Yukari watches Junpei and Minato attack the think with precise movements; how can they stand that? She can hear Mitsuru-senpai and the sound of shattering glass as Penthesilea appears to do her bidding…the air is cold, but Yukari is colder.  
><em>

_The evoker is still shaking in her hands. It looks like a gun, exactly like a gun, she was bringing a gun to her head_…_  
><em>

_But how the hell can she just stand here like this, trembling? She hates that, she hates herself for this, because she had long conquered this and here she is, back to square one—_

Her own glass shatters.

"Io! Magaru!"

The shadows disperse in a light maelstrom of wind, and the darkness of fear lifts from her body. She pants, the sweat on her skin still clammy and cold.

"Oi, Yuka-tan…" She hears Junpei say, the tapping of his footsteps nearing.

"Takeba?" Mitsuru-senpai inquires, coming closer as well.

She sees Minato's shoes in front of her, his silent question.

She pulls herself up, stands up straight, and looks deep into their eyes. The evoker is gripped tightly in her fingers, and Io is inside of her, waiting to prove herself. She is Io, Io is her, and they are both ready.

"I'm fine." She says, her voice unwavering. "Let's go."

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**End Notes: **Still haven't made it through The Answer; I had sort of a love-hate relationship with Yukari in The Journey. I didn't like her jealous side too much, but otherwise she was pretty cool. Pretty, confident, charismatic, social. She seems like an utter bitch in The Answer, but she gets better, and my friend says that she has a reason, so.

Overall, she's the sassmaster, so still a love-hate relationship. :P

Also I don't know why the title isn't centered, it's sort of bothering me. D: /tries to prod it back into place


	3. Freeze: Mitsuru

Ailments

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**Freeze**

"_Thou art all ice. Thy kindness freezes."  
>-William Shakespeare<em>

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><p>She is the embodiment of ice, so it doesn't make sense that she should freeze.<p>

But she does.

Her element is ice, Penthesilea excels in ice attacks. But in the beginning it does not mean that Mitsuru cannot freeze.

She taught herself how to hold her very being with grace and confidence; she is a Kirijo, she cannot falter or waver. She must continue to move; she learns and directs in her father's place when he is not present. Mitsuru is the valedictorian of Gekkoukan High, she is also the president of the Student Council.

Therefore, she is a warrior. She provided support in the beginning before Yamagishi arrived, but now, allowed back into battle, she would be fierce once more under the leadership of another. Her ice freezes those fire-based Shadows; Bufu and Bufula solidifies them and they break into pieces.

Only sometimes, they can use it against her.

When the snake casts Bufula the ice sears her body and she is immobilized. She watches the rest of the battle through a film of glass, unable to move, unable to do anything.

_She was young, when her Persona first awakened. _

_Tartarus was the same back then, although it was new to her eyes. Her father had brought her along after a single, simple request. She never begged; if her father said no, the answer was no. Begging and complaining was unorthodox and uncouth. But he had said yes; he had confirmed his approval because it was her wish to go. _

_There were four guards and a scientist. Mitsuru didn't like him very much; he was treating human life as objects. The four guards had artificially created 'potential'. She wasn't particularly sure how they did it, but when she saw the second guard turn to a monstrous shadow before her eyes, she wasn't thinking about anything anymore._

_It started moving towards her and her father; the guards' weapons were useless and that scientist was certainly no help._

"_Father!"_

_It was a desperate act, stepping in front of him as if she were taking a bullet for him, but she loved her father, she would not let any harm come of her father, not if she could help it—_

_Penthesilea appeared in a flash of blue light, chilling the air, and the shadow dispersed. _

_It was the ice inside her heart that broke; while she could do anything else with a straight, stoic face, while she could accept the criticisms by the other children of her "entirely too mature" character, the ice inside her heart shattered when that shadow moved towards her father. Instead of being trapped by the ice she became the ice; she and Penthesilea both. _

_But when she was frozen, it was not only her heart, but her entire body that was immobilized; it was as if she returned to her young state and was watching the shadow move towards her father, through that blue glass, and the inevitable end would come because she could not move—_

But it takes much more than ice to keep Mitsuru Kirijo down. How dare they try and attack her with her own element, the one that had always done her bidding since the very beginning?

She brings the evoker to her head and Penthesilea dances forth, air chilling, blue crystals forming. The shadow disperses like in her childhood, like the rest of the shadows that she has defeated.

"You are unworthy of my talent," she nearly spits at the shadow (but she doesn't, because she is a proper and refined lady who does not do such things), and turns to the rest of her teammates. Arisato stares back at her blankly as usual, but Akihiko smiles and goes "amazing as always" while Amada gapes, clearly impressed.

Mitsuru smiles, and turns once more.

"Let us go then," She says crisply.

Mitsuru Kijiro has enough fire inside of her to melt the enemy's ice and to destroy them with her own burning frost.

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**End Notes: **Finally managed to get to the end of Ptolomea in order to see Mitsuru's past. She was so adorable when she was little. :3 That Neo Minotaur was a serious pain in the ass; it had nearly no health left about three times and he kept either Aksha Art/Vicious Strike/Magardyne-ing me to death. :S


	4. Rage: Akihiko

Ailments

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**Rage**

"_It's not rage that drives me, it's competition."_  
><em>-Lennox Lewis<em>

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><p><em>Right, left, dodge, uppercut—<em>

The sweat rolls off his skin, his hands stinging with the familiar abuse of his knuckles. He doesn't have time to lose. Tartarus is calling, and so are his boxing matches. But for now, while boxing season is over, he's pouring everything he has into training for the defeat of shadows.

Twice he's had to change his weapons to something stronger, because he's broken the soft metal of the knuckles and worn out the gloves.

Mitsuru tells him that he needs to rest, and he does for the sake of avoiding her wrath.

But every time that Arisato leads them into Tartarus and chooses Akihiko to be one of his party, the blood inside him boils with both excitement and a thirst. He's not sure what that thirst is, but it gives him strength to pound those shadows back into the darkness.

When the Jotun appears, Akihiko grins; the thing is huge, with four arms that are bulging with unnatural muscles, the body rocking threateningly on a rockinghorse it is shackled to.

He can't wait till his fists collide with it.

Maybe it's for this reason that Provoke and Infuriate affect him so much, because he thirsts to prove himself, prove the results of his training.

The red light flashes before him and only blood is screaming in his ears.

S_tronger, stronger, stronger, stronger—_

_After Miki died, he promised himself that he would get stronger, he would become capable of protecting things around him. He wouldn't be a crybaby that relied on Shinji anymore._

_When he decided on boxing, he rose through the ranks fast. In Junior High, someone from another school came to scout him, but he had no interest in placing second._

_Higher, higher, higher—_

_Where? Where could he get stronger?_

_Knocking opponents unconscious from within the ring was too easy—sometimes he had to hold himself back because they were so weak. _

_Faster, faster, faster—_

_In the end, there was no one left who was worthy of challenging him and then he could only wonder how the hell he was going to get stronger. _

_When she appeared, he only wanted her to get out of the way because he didn't have time for another squealing girl—he had no interest in their petty, empty words of encouragement and romance._

_She proved to be different, with her red hair in perfect ringlets, uniform perfectly ironed, creases in all the right places._

_Mitsuru Kirijo placed a gun in his hand and Polydeuces raised the standards of training higher, higher, higher…just like he wanted._

He watches the little droplets of darkness disappear under the crushing pressure of his fist. It was weak, he thinks to himself, and every hit that Akihiko landed took about half the monster's health away.

But then his legs give out under him, and then he notices that his body is covered in wounds that he didn't even feel. Takeba hurries over and casts Diarama, the majority of his wounds fading. Mitsuru looks at him with lips pressed in a tight line; he regains his senses as quickly as he lost them.

"You need to take better care of yourself, Akihiko," she says severely. Arisato gives him a calming look that Akihiko feels says more or less the same. Takeba looks satisfied with her work and stands.

"Don't you ever take a break, senpai?" She asks, sounding impressed with his regime.

The silver-haired senior pauses as he flexes his fingers to adjust his glove, glancing at the red-haired president who gives him a pointed look.

"Sometimes," he says truthfully.

"I'm amazed," Takeba continues, "What drives you?"

Indeed, what does? He wonders to himself, but the words leave his mouth without the permission of his brain.

"Competition."

Faster, stronger, better—better than anyone else, so he can protect everything he can.

The anger inside of him at the limits of his inadequate humanity rages.

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**End Notes: **So technically it's the want to protect something that drives him _and_ competition. Competition is the actual motivator; protection is what he wants to use what he has won from competition for…


	5. Poison: Shinjiro

Ailments

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**Poison**

"_Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die."  
>- <em>_Malachy McCourt_

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><p>The sensation isn't unfamiliar in his system.<p>

His skin looks purple from the use of Virus Breath, and he certainly doesn't feel too good either. He grits his teeth and mutters "shit" under his breath. He's the only one affected, so it's okay—but they can't afford to waste a turn curing him. He waves them off with a glare; that Arisato kid seems to get the message and casts Bufula with the use of Sarasvati instead of Posumundi.

Like he said, the sensation isn't unfamiliar in his system. It drags him down like a mass of chains, and it feels like worms are coiling around in his stomach, spewing toxic fumes and he chokes, the unpleasant feeling of death burning into his skin. But you don't die from the poison attacks from shadows; you just suffer until it dispels with the use of Dis-Poison or Posumundi. You're not screwed if you don't have them; you just suffer.

Castor is smirking inside of him, blade poised and ready for when he is summoned. When Shinjiro puts the evoker to his head and presses the trigger, Castor shoots out like a black wave, like he did when they both took away Ken Amada's future.

He became friends with poison then.

_He awakened his Persona naturally, after Aki did. But just because he wasn't artificial didn't mean that he didn't know how to control it. He had called Castor out a few times prior; the Persona was him and it was happy to do his bidding, to defeat the shadows._

_But on October 4__th__ Castor crashed into a house, wild, and it collapsed. _

_He never showed it but goddammit Shinji was scared. He never looked particularly nice but he had taken the lives of shadows only—if you could call it a life. Now, he had murdered and taken two human lives; the lives that had leaked out under the collapse of the roof that was done by his hand._

_He found out the kid survived, but he survived alone._

_Pills, pills, pills—no way in hell could he ever he let this happen again—_

_Castor shook inside of him, as if the capsules were forcing him to do exactly what he said; but indeed, that was exactly what they were doing._

_He took a life, and now he would pay for it in one way or another—by the pills or by innocent hands._

The cloud lifts from him suddenly, and he sees the Arisato kid staring at him coolly, the blue light of Sarasvati disappearing after she has casted Posumundi.

"Tch." Shinji grunts, glancing away. "I don't need your help."

He turns back to see him giving him a look that pretty much says, "I never said you did."

Shinjiro wants to laugh; he doesn't admit but he thinks the kid's pretty cool. Castor flies out on more to end the battle, and Shinjiro turns his back to the rest of the team.

It's impossible but he thinks that the kid somehow already knows; he doesn't know how though, he's definitely never told anyone, and Aki doesn't know…yet. He knew Aki wouldn't tell if he _did_ know anyway; he'd try to shape Shinji up himself.

Takeba heals them up and the Iori kid says something about his strength, but Shinjiro isn't listening. He remembers that he didn't take a capsule before coming; he hadn't expected to start right away but he supposes it was the Arisato kid's best judgment to see what he could do first. Pulling his beanie lower down his face, he wonders how long he can last before everyone will see his Persona attempting to kill its user. Castor is warping inside of him.

Except a hand is on his shoulder and the warping stops.

He turns to meet silver eyes; Arisato pats his shoulder (Shinjiro is surprised that the kid has guts enough to just walk up to him like that) and gives him a look.

"Tch."

So the kid knows, somehow, but Shinjiro doesn't think that he understands.

He's used to the poison in his veins.

The very thing that is killing him is the very thing that keeps him alive.

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**End Notes: **Shinji's a badass, I miss him. D:

The end can be taken both ways; the poison, meaning the capsules, keeps Shinji alive so Castor doesn't strangle him. Or the fact that he is taking the poison which will kill him gives him a reason to live and to atone for what he did to Ken while he is still living, and in the end he will die which gives him that peace and motivation to keep living (his motivation for living to atone is death at the end). I don't know if I made that any clearer or more confusing…

Ah well, whatever you interpret it as. xD


	6. Distress: Ken

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**Distress**

"_Desire is a bonfire that burns with greater fury, asking for more fuel. Desire is the sole cause of sorrow and __distress__."  
>-Sri Sathya Sai Baba<em>

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><p>It's not every time that he loses his countenance like this.<p>

But it makes him uneasy, when Minato-san puts him into the same group with Shinjiro-san. He adores Sanada-san for his amazing boxing skills and is happy that he gets to see them up close, but still—

Shinjiro-san makes him uneasy. It makes him uneasy that he is next to the killer of his mother and the destruction of his home, but he is also the catalyst of the boiling lava threatening to overflow that is his fury and desire for revenge.

He grips his spear, but knows that there is a certain day that he will extract this revenge and he will dutifully wait for that day.

But while his mind is full of such things the enemy casts Eerie Sound; it is eerie indeed, it sounds like his mother screaming his name.

(Only, it isn't her voice, it's his imagination because it's only a noise that the shadow makes)

Nonetheless, it distracts him.

_His mother was his most favorite, beloved person in the world. He wasn't sure where his father was, where he would be. But he was certainly not here and his mother was all he needed._

_He might sound like a momma's boy, but that wasn't the case. She taught him so many things, she brought him up with maturity and kindness and strictness and he was happy without his father, wherever he may be. _

_But then she died at the hands of some shining black monster on a horse._

_It was listed as an accident and he knew that it wasn't the case. He saw it—he definitely saw that monster, appearing out of nowhere and smashing the house in. The police did not believe him, because it sounded ludicrous to them and he was a child, someone not to be taken seriously.  
><em>

_It was his first surge of utter hatred. _

_There was no justice in the world...  
><em>

_When he overheard Sanada-san and Shinjiro-san talking near Hakagure, he knew that he would not be letting this chance fly by. He would take justice into his own hands.  
><em>

_(But can he really murder someone twice as tall, twice as wide, twice as experienced in battle? What is justice, anyway?)_

_It's distress that he is indeed afflicted with, because he has vowed to do this but now he is doubting himself; the anxiety gnaws at him because he murderer is next to him and he knows he will do it but he isn't sure if he is capable—_

He delivers a quick pierce with his spear and the shadow is knocked down; it disappears after the power of an all-out attack.

He hears a low "good job, kid." From behind him, and the deep voice belongs to Shinjiro-san. When he turns, he and Sanada-san are engaged in conversation and Minato-san is opening one of the little treasure boxes often found in Tartarus.

Ken turns back to face the distorted wall and frowns, his fingers tightening around the stick of his spear.

Shinjiro-san is kind, and he doesn't seem like a bad person once you look past his initial frightening appearance. That was what he had believed in the beginning.

(And it was still true, only the way Ken perceived him was now different).

Ken closes his eyes and wishes that he didn't have to be so distressed all the time, because he likes being in the SEES where they all treat him like an equal despite his age.

For now, maybe he can pretend to like Shinjiro-san until October 4th comes once more.

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**End Notes: **Ken was rather adorable, with his super mature outward personality but secretly liking Phoenix Ranger Featherman :P (Only, I was like WUT when he says that he drinks his coffee black. Coffee is so bitter black!)  
>And then came the whole confrontation with Shinji and Shinji dies and I am like, "DDDDD:"<p>

I don't hate Ken, but I always have this "D:" feeling when I think about that it was technically his fault that Shinji died. D:


	7. Panic: Koromaru

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**Panic**

"_Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination."  
>-Christian Nevell Bovee<em>

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><p>He knows that Master died.<p>

Koromaru is not as unintelligent as some other animals. He knows that Master was bathed in red long ago, and the scent of death wafted off of him and the fumes of the Wheel-Box stunk the road.

Master is dead, but that does not stop Koromaru from waiting for his return, as he as always done. He loyally waits at the shrine, and goes on his walks as usual. Sometimes Gentle-Blue feeds him; she has short hair and big eyes and she is nice. Tough-Skirt is there too; sometimes he hears her snapping but she is always nice to him.

The night Koromaru defeats the Evil-Dark at his Master's shrine, Strong-Fist comes and rescues him and there is a lot of people there that he has seen before. Fancy-Red and Hat are there too, and he knows that the last person is the Alpha with one look. But then another appears, and he wonders who it is, because she is different and scentless.

She can understand him. He learns that she isn't human, which is strange at first, but eventually he overcomes it. Besides, they can converse, and that makes him happy. Her name is Aigis; it is the second name that he registers after Cerebus because he does not know how to label her.

Koromaru learns to fight with many people. Tall-Coat and Short-Boy come too; he loves Tall-Coat because he feeds Koromaru lots of tasty things.

Battle is easy for him, because of his instincts, but sometimes the Evil-Darks do things and those same, fearful animal instincts kick in.

_He knows that Master is red, and that means that Master is alive no longer._

_He also knows that Alpha does not let anyone die, but they have all been very injured before. Koromaru gets worried when he sees the red. The Evil-Darks are strong, and Koromaru does not want any of them to be Red like his master._

_Not like Master, not like Master, not like Master—_

_Inside-Friend, Cerebus, does not answer._

_Koromaru can only think that the Evil-Darks must not let Alpha and Tall-Coat and Aigis be red like Master; even Aigis can be red in a different way._

_Red, red, red—they cannot end up like Master, not like Master, not like Master—_

_Howl!_

Cerebus rushes forward and the Evil-Dark is gone, just like the first day that he defended Master's Beloved Place. It was defeated just in time, because the people around him are injured just as he was during that day.

Even Tall-Coat is groaning; Aigis looks like she is breaking. Blue-Alpha grimaces and raises the metal-summoner; it made Koromaru deeply nervous at first, but he knows that it brings forth more like Cerebus, and he heals them all up and there is no more red.

Cerebus howls inside of him; Koromaru whimpers. Koromaru and Cerebus both know that being reminded of Master makes Koromaru panic and Cerebus can't help calm that inner crisis, but they both know that it is for the same reason that they will not let anyone else end up like Master in a sea of red.

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**End Notes: **I have to admit Koro-chan's a bit hard to write, since he's not human (and neither is Aigis) and in the end he still is a dog, so he should still have animal thoughts even if he is more intelligent than most other animals. Since dogs have different color spectrums, I wondered if Koromaru should see all the different colors—does Cerebus change the way he perceives color, as well as his red eyes? In the end I just went with a bit of a broader color spectrum.

Just in case:  
>Master: the monk that took care of Koromaru<br>Wheel-Box: Car  
>Gentle-Blue: Fuuka<br>Tough-Skirt: Yukari  
>Strong-Fist: Akihiko<br>Fancy-Red: Mitsuru  
>Tall-Coat: Shinjiro<br>Short-Boy: Ken  
>(Blue) Alpha: Minato<p>

Evil-Darks: Shadows


	8. Shock: Aigis

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**Shock**

"_Truth makes many appeals, not the least of which is its power to shock."  
>-Jules Renard<em>

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><p>Aigis, as a machine, understands plenty of things.<p>

She knows how to disarm a man six times larger than her; she knows where exactly to aim in order to render the other party useless, if he is human. She knows where exactly to fire if the other party is a machine, as she is. She knows every part of the human anatomy, where she can puncture and where it will release the most blood. She knows exactly how many seconds or minutes or hours it will take for a human to die, depending on his wound.

Not that she has ever touched a human being intending to kill, however. It was not what she was created for.

She knows how to aim for the critical points of a shadow. She knows when to go into Orgia Mode when it will be most effective. She knows how to avoid the enemy's attacks.

She knows how to summon a Persona.

Aigis only knows destruction and not life, for she was built for the very reason of the destruction of shadows.

She does not understand why Yukari-san and Fuuka-san laugh, or why Junpei-san finds school boring, or why Akihiko-san and Mitsuru-san argue over his wounds if they will heal in due time.

She only understands that she is a machine, she kills shadows, and that she wants to be by Minato-san's side.

She understands nothing else.

So when the bolt of electricity runs through her system and brings her to her knees, it comes as a moment of what humans would call clarity.

_She understands nothing._

_This is the realization._

_Aigis is a machine and knows only a specific number of things, she knows everything relating to weaponry but she knows nothing about humanity._

_She wants to know why Yukari-san and Fuuka-san laugh, she wants to know why Junpei-san finds school 'boring', she wants to know why Mitsuru-san yells at Akihiko-san for his injures. It is because she is 'worried', but what exactly is worried? Is it the same feeling of 'needing to protect', as she feels with Minato-san?_

_She has asked the others to explain to her what 'school' is, what 'fun' is; sometimes they can give her a definition and she adds it to her system, other times they find it very difficult to explain to her and she cannot even understand why it should be so difficult. _

_Sometimes a 'feeling' relies heavily on simply 'emotion', which she is lacking in. _

_She wants to know. She wants to begin to understand._

The bullets shoot forth from her fingers as she leaps into the air. Minato-san shakes his sword, Yukari-san returns the arrow to the quiver, and Amada-san sighs with relief. Yukari-san and Amada-san smile at her, grateful for her expertise in the elimination of shadows. She does not find Minato-san's lack of expression odd at all, possibly because she is the same way.

She thinks she begins to comprehend the feeling of camaraderie and friendship.

.

.

.

.

**End Notes: **Teaching Aigis must be hard…things like boring would be hard to explain, especially since you could just keep going. "What is boring?" "Well…the lack of amusement." "why is there a lack of amusement that classifies it as boring?" "well…like school. Homework is boring. It's work." "Why is work boring?" "Because…I'm lazy!" "What is lazy?"

Then again, Aigis might be satisfied with "the lack of amusement"; I don't think she'd ask that many questions...

But still, teaching things like feelings and emotions are rather difficult. Nostalgia might be one…


End file.
